Door hanger

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an improved hanger for suspended bypassing doors and particularly hangers designed for adjusting the height of a door mounted by such hangers. The improvements disclosed include an integral reinforcing rib running substantially the full length of the hanger and toward a corner opposite the wheel. Further improvement includes an adjustment mechanism comprising a pair of arcuate slots positioned on opposite sides of the reinforcing rib and having different centers, both centers positioned on the same side of the rib whereby location of the hanger about a mounting screw in each slot tends to produce frictional engagement between the side walls of the slots and the mounting screws. Maximum adjustability is achieved by the cooperation of the two arcuate slots and a large radius rounded corner of the hanger at the corner opposite the roller or wheel.

United States Patent 1 Craig et al.

[111 3,747,158 1 July 24, 1973 DOOR HANGER [73] Assignee: Arthur Cox & Sons, Inc., City of Industry, Calif.

22 Filed:' June 11,1971

[21] Appl. No.: 152,294

[52] US. Cl 16/105, 16/97, 16/99 [51] Int. Cl A47h 15/06 [58] Field of Search 16/105, 97, 99

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,187,371 Winnan et al. .11: 16/105 Primary Examiner-James T. McCall Assistant Examiner-Peter A. Aschenbrenner Attorney-John E. Wagner [57] ABSTRACT Disclosed is an improved hanger for suspended bypassing doors and particularly hangers designed for adjusting the height of a door mounted by such hangers. The improvements disclosed include an integral reinforcing rib running substantially the full length of the hanger and toward a corner opposite the wheel. Further improvement includes an adjustment mechanism comprising a pair of arcuate slots positioned on opposite sides of the reinforcing rib and having different centers, both centers positioned on the same side of the rib whereby location of the hanger about a mounting screw in each slot tends to produce frictional engagement between the side walls of the slots and the mounting screws. Maximum adjustability is achieved by the cooperation of the two arcuate slots and a large radius rounded corner of the hanger at the corner opposite the roller or wheel.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures V PATENIEUJuL24|91a SHEEI 1 0f 2 INVENTORS BURNIE M. CRAIG IRVIN O. ANDERSON JR. w F. [J m PATENHU I 3, 747. l 58 SHEET 2 OF 2 32B my 00011 HANGER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The design of hangers for sliding or track-mounted doors, particularly of the type designed to allow bypassing of doors, has developed to a relatively high degree of sophistication. Early in the development of such hangers, the need to have the hanger adjustable to make simple adjustments in height of the door for clearance with the floor was recognized. Often a vertical screw adjustment was included in such hangers. More recently, hangers have been developed from sheet metal formed in the general shape of an upstanding triangle or, in certain cases, largely rectangular member, with a pair of slots through which a pair of mounting screws are driven into the door to be supported. These two slots have been positioned well below the location of a single wheel or roller.

Typically in use, the hangers with dual slots are hand placed against the door; the two mounting screws are driven through the hanger slots into the door and tigthened slightly. The hanger is adjusted in height with respect to the door by pivotingthe hanger with respect to the mounting screws. The eccentric positioning of the slots causes the wheel to move in both a vertical and horizontal direction with respect to the mounting screws and thus with respect to the door. The vertical movement of the wheel produces a vertical adjustment in the door height. Adjustment of the hanger is typically assisted by a third slot inthe-lower edgeof the hanger into which the blade of a screwdriver is inserted.

BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION We have found that in employing the basic approach to hanger design described above that the adjustability of the hanger is limited and that the strength of the hanger is likewise limited by the fact that the hanger by its very nature is eccentric in that the load from the door through the mounting screws must be transferred laterally as well as vertically and that the hangers are subject to bending and misuse. We have found that it is possible to obtain maximum adjustment by the use of a pair of arcuate adjusting slots of different radius with the center of curvature of both located toward one side of the hanger.

We have also found that it is possible to greatly increase the strength of hangers in accordance with this invention through the use of a single reinforcing rib running between the two slots virtually the entire length of the hanger in a manner that produces a section modulus through the hanger which is nearly constant throughout its length. This is in distinction from previous designs which include a reverse bend in the hanger and a minimum'section modulus at a point of greatest stress, to wit, the shoulder at the top of the door. I

We have also found that location of the wheel at the upper right-hand corner adjacent to the reinforcing rib with a large radius are forming the upper left-hand crner allows the hanger to be mounted much closer to the left-hand edge of the door than has been possible in the past without the hanger extending beyond the edge of the door at any position of adjustment. The strengthening rib additionally includes a portion which extends at an obtuse angle toward the lower left corner of the hanger to provide greater strength at the corner opposite the wheel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing features of this invention may be more clearly understood from the following detailed description and by reference to the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a hanger bracket in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the bracket of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A, B and C illustrate the hanger of this invention in its normal mounting position and the two extreme adjustment positions;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the complete hanger assembly of FIG. 1 with the significant dimensions of the mounting slots shown;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section through a typical door assembly showing the hanger assemblies in use; and,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a section of track showing the packaging of hangers within the track.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIG. 1, a hanger 10 in accordance with this invention may be seen constituting a generally rectangular piece of formed sheet metal including a predominant rounded upper left-hand corner 11 and a mounting hole 12 at the upper right-hand corner for securing a roller or wheel.

The corner 11 and wheel hole 12 are both located in recess portions 13 and 14 produced by forming an offset from the main body level 15 of a hanger 10. This offset is best illustrated in FIG. 2 and is designed to position the support wheel approximately over the top of a door secured to a hanger. Extending almost the full length of the hanger is a reinforcing rib 16 which terminated at or above the hole 12 and includes an angle portion 20 at the lower third of the hanger. This lower angle portion 20 is virtually aligned with the hole 12 and includes a screwdriver slot 21 also generally aligned with the hole 12. pair of slots 22 and 23 provide the mounting means for the hanger as well as for pro viding for adjustment of the relative height of the hanger with respect to the door to which it is attached. These two slots are both arcuate in shape and both have their centers to the left of the rib 16. Their centers are not co-located so that rotation of the hanger about any point other than either of the centers produces a relative change in opening distance on any horizontal line through the two arcuate slots 22 and 23. This hanger is designed to be mounted with two horizontally displaced screws passing through the slots, therefore, the hangers whenever placed on a door with screws passing-therethrough but not fully tightened produces frictional engagement between each screw and one of the side walls of its respective slot merely by the weight of the door. Therefore, employing the slot arrangement of FIG. I, the hanger will stably support the door upon initial hanging and allow height adjustment of the door without slippage.

FIG. I and, more particularly, FIG. 2 illustrates the effect of reinforcing rib 16 which extends fully the entire length of the hanger l0 and is positioned between the two slots 22 and 23. This rib extends around. the knee 24 of the hanger thereby maintaining a constant section modulus through the knee portion 24, which is subject to severe bending stress. As is further apparent in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rib 16 and the recess 14 define a bracket for the mounting hole 12 thereby providing greater section modulus at the location of the wheel, which is also an area of major stress in the hanger. At the opposite extreme of the hanger, the corner 25 is extended to almost the full rectangular shape and the rib portion 20, as indicated above, also extends towards the corner. The additional length of corner 25 and the presence of the angle portion 20 of reinforcing rib 16 provides additional section modulus in the lower lefthand corner which, likewise, may be subject to severe bending stress applied to the hanger. It is therefore apparent from the foregoing that the hanger of this invention, although simple in design, provides far greater section modulus and strength than in hanger designs of the past. Likewise, it provides for adjustability through the use of the arcuate slots with centers on the same side of the reinforcing rib.

The FIGS. 3A, B and C show the hanger as initially mounted on a door and adjusted to the lowest and highest positions of FIGS. 38 and 3C, respectively. In FIG. 3A, the hanger is substantially vertical with two screws 30 and 31 in place passing through the slots 22 and 23 into the door 32. When mounted on a track represented by the line 33, the weight of the door causes the screws to move slightly downward in the slots 22 and 23 until slight frictional engagement with the side walls of the slots 22 and 23 occurs. Insertion of a screwdriver in the slot 21 and rotation of that screwdriver to the left causes the hanger to move into the position as shown in FIG. 38 with the screw 30 in its lowest position in slot 22 and screw 31 in the highest position in a vertical direction from the top edge of the door 32.

By similar rotation of the screwdriver in slot 21 in the opposite direction, the hanger is adjusted to the maximum height position with respect to the door 32 and it should be noted that the hanger body presents little interference to positioning of the hanger close to the edge 32A of the door 32. Note that in all cases, the adjustment operation involves the insertion of the screwdriver in slot 21 directed at the wheel 27.

Now referring to FIG. 4, the details of a complete hanger may be seen. The roller or wheel 27 is secured by its axle pin 28 in hole 12 of FIG. 1. The wheel 27 is at the upper right-hand corner of the generally rectangular bracket 10. The pronounced curve 11 is clearly visible and the generally rectangular corner 25 and rib section 20 providing a strengthened corner opposite the wheel 27 is clearly illustrated.

Most significant in FIG. 4 are the two arcuate slots 22 and 23. Slot 22 is a circular section having a means radius R about center located to the left of the bracket body. Slot 23 likewise is circular with a mean radius R, about center 0, located to the left or on the same side of rib 16 as the slot 22 and center 0,. The centers or origins 0, and 0 are not co-located, the movement of the bracket about either origin in the adjustment process will result in simultaneous movement of both screws in their respective slots. The origins 0 and 0, are also located outside of the confines of either slot so that a simple pivoting, non-binding adjustment does not occur at any time. Consequently, adjustment of the height of the wheel 27 with respect to the door by angular adjustment of the bracket at all times involves frictional engagement of the sides of both mounting screws against their respective slot wall.

Therefore, an unrestrained pivoting of the bracket about either screw will not occur at any time during adjustment. The net result is that the door is stably mounted with screws partially tightened and adjustment occurs smoothly with reasonably uniform frictional engagement at any angle of adjustment.

A typical installation of hangers of this invention is illustrated in FIG. 5. There a track 33 of formed metal is secured to a horizontal top frame member 34 behind a facia board 35. The track 33 includes a pair of grooves 36 and 37 in which wheels 27A and 27B of hangers 10A and 10B roll. The hanger 10A is secured to the front door 32A by screws 40A and similarily, the bracket 10B is secured to the back door 328 by screws 40B.

FIG. 5 illustrates particularly the importance of the reinforcing ribs 16A and 16B which extend substantially the entire length of the brackets and maintain a near constant section modulus throughout the vertical length of the bracket. The rib 16 also extending well below the mounting points (screws 40) provides resistance to bending not only at the knee portions 24A and B, but at the screws as well. This added strength of the design of this invention is also achieved with a minimum of material. It should be noted that the bracket is generally rectangular in shape thereby minimizing scrap during manufacture and additionally allows the bracket to be stored and transported in the track 33 as illustrated in FIG. 6.

The above described embodiments of this invention are merely descriptive of its principles and are not to be considered limiting. The scope of this invention instead shall be determined from the scope of the following claims, including their equivalents.

We claim:

1. An adjustable bracket for suspended roller mounted doors comprising:

a unitary body member;

a wheel rotatably secured to the upper region of said body member;

said body member including a mounting portion including a pair of arcuate slots therethrough and a wheel support portion displaced from the plane of the mounting portion;

said body portion including an integral rib extending substantially the length of said body including the securing region of said wheel;

said arcuate slots being centered about two different centers, each of which is on the same side of said integral rib;

said centers located outside the confines of either slot.

2. An adjustable hanger for suspended roller mounted door comprising:

a unitary body member;

a wheel rotatably secured to the upper region of said body member;

said body member including a mounting portion including a pair of arcuate slots therethrough and a wheel support portion displaced from the plane of the mounting portion;

said are slots having different radii and different centers, said centers located outside of the area of said are slots whereby movement of said hanger in a vertical or rotating direction when securing screws are placed through said arcuate slots produces a change in interslot distance along any horizontal with said wheel rotatably secured to one of said corners and said pair of ar'cuate slots are each located generally along the longer side of said rectangular shape with the arc centers of said slots generally in the area of the longer side of the generally rectangular shape remote from said wheel. 

1. An adjustable bracket for suspended roller mounted doors comprising: a unitary body member; a wheel rotatably secured to the upper region of said body member; said body member including a mounting portion including a pair of arcuate slots therethrough and a wheel support portion displaced from the plane of the mounting portion; said body portion including an integral rib extending substantially the length of said body including the securing region of said wheel; said arcuate slots being centered about two different centers, each of which is on the same side of said integral rib; said centers located outside the confines of either slot.
 2. An adjustable hanger for suspended roller mounted door comprising: a unitary body member; a wheel rotatably secured to the upper region of said body member; said body member including a mounting portion including a pair of arcuate slots therethrough and a wheel support portion displaced from the plane of the mounting portion; said arc slots having different radii and different centers, said centers located outside of the area of said arc slots whereby movement of said hanger in a vertical or rotating direction when securing screws are placed through said arcuate slots produces a change in interslot distance along any horizontal line and resultant frictional engagement between one of the walls of each slot and screws passing therethrough.
 3. The combination in accordance with claim 2 wherein one of said slots is in generally vertical alignment with said wheel.
 4. The combination in accordance with claim 2 wherein said hanger is of generally rectangular shape with said wheel rotatably secured to one of said corners and said pair of arcuate slots are each located generally along the longer side of said rectangular shape with the arc centers of said slots generally in the area of the longer side of the generally rectangular shape remote from said wheel. 